This invention relates to radio communications, and more specifically to a radio frequency (RF) circuit reconfigurable between an RF mixer with fixed gain, RF mixer with variable gain, an RF amplifier with fixed gain, an RF amplifier with variable gain, and scalable linearity and bias settings in every mode.
The backbone of all RF communication equipment is the RF mixer and the RF amplifier. Virtually, all RF equipment employs a combination of amplifiers and mixers. Amplifiers are useful to increase the power level of a signal of interest. In RF transmission, RF mixers are used to transpose radio frequencies to a useful signal for transmission and delivery at an intermediate frequency. Conversely, in reception, mixers are used to transpose the RF frequency of a received signal to a relatively low intermediate frequency for processing by downstream electronic circuits.
RF system designers are motivated to reduce size, weight, power, and cost of RF equipment. In that regard, considerable savings can be found with interchangeable and reconfigurable electrical components.
What is needed is a single electrical circuit or unit cell that is reconfigurable to an amplifier or a mixer, with variable gain and variable linearity control.